


Sea of Dreams

by ShayneyL



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Gen, Holodecks/Holosuites, Prompt Fic, Writer's Month 2020, dream - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:07:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26148406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShayneyL/pseuds/ShayneyL
Summary: Harry Kim makes a special holoprogram for Tom Paris.
Relationships: Harry Kim & Tom Paris
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9
Collections: Writer's Month 2020





	Sea of Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> Writer's Month 2020, Day 27. The prompt is "dream."

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

When Tom arrived at the holodeck, a program was already running. He assumed it was Harry's; Harry had invited him here, wanting to show him something. Tom entered, curious about what his friend was up to.

And nearly jumped out of his skin. He was on a platform, high in the clouds, and had nearly walked off the edge. Of course, this was the holodeck. If he fell, he would not be hurt. It was hard to suppress the visceral reaction, though.

Harry, already waiting for him, grabbed his arm. "Whoa. It's not a skydiving program, Tom. Our boat is that way." He pointed to a narrow walkway, that led to a peculiar vessel that looked sort of like a combination of an old-fashioned sailing ship and a hot air balloon.

It was an odd but beautiful program. Tom wondered where Harry had gotten it. Intrigued, he followed Harry onto the sky boat. Harry untied the moorings, and they were sailing on the clouds. "Want to take the helm?" Harry asked. He indicated the wheel at the center of the vessel.

"You bet I do," Tom said. He was sure he could fly anything, even a fantasy balloon boat. It seemed to work very much like the helm of a sailing ship, and soon they were swooping among the clouds. They passed mysterious floating islands, other boats, and shimmering fish that swam in the air instead of the water.

A cloud of mist appeared briefly in the distance. "There she blows," Harry said. A giant, majestic whale leaped from the clouds, then plunged back down, out of sight. 

"This is amazing," Tom said. "Where did you get this? And can I borrow it?" This was the perfect combination of sailing and flying.

"It's yours, Tom," Harry said. "I made it for you."

"You made this?" Somehow, he'd imagined Harry's programs to be more…workmanlike. "What is it, and how did you come up with it?"

"It's based on a dream I used to have sometimes when I was a kid, where I could float through the clouds like a fish in water. I imagine it as a civilization that evolved in the atmosphere of a gas giant." He leaned against the gunwale. "I know you love sailing. I was going to make a _Moby Dick_ program for you, but those old ships were pretty cramped. I didn't think you'd have fun in such small, dark spaces. And I figured you wouldn't want to kill whales, even holographic ones." 

Very true, Tom realized. He loved _Moby Dick_ and had re-read it too many times to count, but the last thing he wanted was to kill a whale himself.

"I got the idea of combining it with my childhood dream of a cloud ocean," Harry continued. "So welcome to the Sea of Dreams, where you're never enclosed and whales swim free."

Tom stared at Harry in astonishment. Harry had actually made this entire program just for him. Tom couldn't remember anyone ever doing something like this for him before. His parents had given him gifts, quite frequently, but they were always what they wanted for him, not what he wanted.

Of course he could replicate whatever he wanted for himself, and write his own holoprograms, and did, but… This was different. Someone — Harry — had put a lot of thought and effort into imagining what Tom might like, and then creating it for him. It was overwhelming, and Tom felt tears filling his eyes.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked, worried. "If you don't like it, it's okay, you don't have to…"

"Harry, I love it," Tom said. He threw his arms around Harry and hugged him. "This is the best gift I've ever gotten." _You are the best gift I've ever gotten_ was what he really meant.


End file.
